Predictably, the U.S. State Department issued its favorable report basically sanctioning the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Also predictably, it issued its determination on a snooze-day, Friday afternoon before skulking out of town for the weekend (“Keystone XL oil pipeline clears major hurdle,” Feb. 1).

It’s a craven report, hinging its main argument on the supposition that Canada is going to keep extracting this stuff anyway and sending it by rail, so what’s the point of resisting?

This attitude and the superficial media reportage in general completely ignore the fact that many, many Canadians in small towns and big cities from British Columbia to New Brunswick are against both pipeline and rail transport of this dirty and volatile tar sands material through their communities.

There is a grass-roots movement both in Canada and the United States to halt the extraction and transport of this material. There will be more demonstrations. There will be more civil disobedience. There will be more court actions that will cause implementation delays.

The U.S. State Department and Canada’s National Energy Board can make all the slippery and compliant arrangements that they wish with the petroleum industry, but they will continue to meet a growing opposition movement that will not stop.

Nicole d’Entremont

Peaks Island

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.